On Wednesdays we enjoy Gaelic football coaching with Kevin. So far we have practiced hand passing, picking the ball off the grounds, kicking and soloing the ball.
Our Student Council are hoping they can work together with our Active Schools Committee to raise enough funds to purchase a set of gaelic scoring posts. This will give us ample time to practice our shooting over the crossbar.
Last week our student council shared their desire to bring back our whole school assemblies which they greatly missed. We looked at how we could make this happen in a safe way.
Today 4th class treated us to a very special whole school Assembly through zoom. We were delighted to be joined by Reverend Rue as we reflected on the challenges of the past and present. We were reminded that we can always talk to God and ask for God’s help when times are difficult. 4th class also sang ‘Father I place into your hands’ and shared their wonderful art display showing the things they are placing into his hands for him to take care of.
In 1st and 2nd class we have been learning about the different seasons in maths and have also been using our inferring skills to decipher the time of year being described in tests or through pictures.
After much discussion surrounding Autumn, we began to create Autumn trees. We used our arms and hands to create the trunk and branches of the trees. We then used our finder prints to create all the leaves. All of our trees were unique and truly personal.
All of the children in 4th class have been working really hard on their positivity. They have been developing their growth mindset in a positive way and are trying their best to always see the glass as half full, rather than half empty! No matter what you think you can’t do, if you put your mind to it, you might be surprised to realise that YOU CAN!
4th class are also trying to follow six very simple words!
KIND HANDS, KIND FEET, KIND WORDS!
If we can all follow these simple words, we believe, the world will be a nicer place!
The Junior Infants are currently learning all about different types of materials, but we are learning lots about autumn too!
Spotting seasonal changes is so easy when you go to school in Nun’s Cross. We are so lucky to have the garden that we have and be able to see the changes in nature right on our classroom door. We enjoyed going on an autumn hunt around our school garden and were able to spot most of the signs of autumn including horse chestnuts, mushrooms, berries and lots of different coloured leaves! Afterwards, we completed a list of all of the things we found in the garden.
We have an autumn inspired funky finger station where the children are invited to exercise their fine motor skills by making a hedgehog from matchsticks and marla! A tricky task for little fingers!
We have also looked at the colours of autumn and the variety of colours on the trees around us. We used these colours to create our own finger print autumn trees
We have also learned about some of the animals which are very busy in autumn getting ready for hibernation. We have read lots of stories about them and have really enjoyed creating pictures of them including making marks and patterns with paint and using tissue paper to create a textured collage.
We are delighted to have Aidan back visiting us at school and coaching us in rugby. All classes enjoy playing a variety of games each Wednesday. It does get quite competitive at times, but at the end of the day we understand that it is all about the fun and laughter. We have been very fortunate with the fine weather each week which has allowed us to get out and about in the fine weather and fresh air. Take a look at 3rd and 4th class in action…
September’s topic was all about the Celts and we are finishing up with wonderful creations of Celtic jewellery, weapons and cooking utensils. Have a look at the first stages!
3rd class have been learning about the Stone Age, and on Friday, a group of children from the class decided to build their own hut at lunchtime. They were inspired by the round huts built by hunter-gatherers long ago and by the Viking settlements 4th class made recently as part of their learning. The children also constructed a stone wall which resembled the walls built by Stone Age farmers to keep their sheep in.
It was lovely to see them applying their learning on their own initiative and in their own free time outside the classroom. They worked together as a team and had interesting conversations about how people lived back then. They were also heard using the topic-related vocabulary learned in class, and lots of problem-solving was observed.
Maith sibh!
The Junior Infants are learning all about materials and how they are used in the world around us. We are exploring this topic in our play by being builders and are really enjoying all the planning and building that we are getting up to. Mrs Gannon isn’t so keen on all the hammering though!
This week 3rd class have been working very hard on completing their applications to join the Student Council in our school. Our current members in 4th, 5th and 6th class have the very difficult task of reading all applications and awarding points to determine who will be joining us.
We have a very difficult task as the applications are all really good and it is clear that the boys and girls in 3rd class have put alot of work into making them.
It is lovely to see how much the students value our school - the play areas, the flowers, colours, pond and all the sports we enjoy.
Lots of great ideas have been put forward to improve our school which will definitely be noted. These will make up our action plan for the coming weeks. These include:
Bringing back our Friday Whole School Assemblies. Next week Student council will draw up a rota for assemblies. If weather is permitting, we will have short assemblies on yard. These will be socially distanced. If the weather does not permit, we can use our whiteboards and connect with the other classes.
We would like to freshen the school up with some colourful paint on our windowsills.
We would like to add more flowers to our garden. Some great ideas were shared on the applications - like giving each class a flower bed of its own or a pack of seeds to sow. We may need to think which flowers grow best in the different seasons to make the most of this idea.
The Junior Infants learned about how glass is made this week and we made stained glass windows of our own! We think they look amazing in our classroom windows!
Junior Infants created some spiky hedgehogs today!
In 3rd class, we have been working through the Weaving Wellbeing programme and we have spent extra time outdoors this month. We have engaged in a variety of activities which promote good mental health and wellbeing. These include mindfulness colouring, daily affirmations, breathing exercises and meditation. Each child has their own 'wellbeing toolkit' of simple strategies and tools that they can use to help regulate their feelings. We will continue to build on these as the year progresses. We also have a feelings check-in board where the children can identify how they are feeling at different times of the day and we have re-introduced our worry box as a way for the children to express any worries they may have.
All of the children and staff were delighted to see the sunshine remain with us this morning as it meant we could go ahead with our first assembly of the new school year.
Unfortunately we have been unable to have our usual weekly school assemblies due to the covid restrictions but this week Senior Infants were able to help us gather together for a wonderful assembly. Each class was able to sit in their class groups in socially distanced groups and enjoy the performance from Senior Infants.
“We have all really missed gathering together, listening to a bible story, singing a hymn, sharing news, celebrating birthdays and a variety of successes from each class. Lets hope the weather keeps up for a while longer so that we can gather together again! ”
3rd class created self-portraits inspired by the work of Romero Britto. They focused on line, colour, direction, value, pattern, form and shape. Once they had finished their self-portraits, they decorated the background with shapes that symbolise their own individual interests. Well done everyone!
Junior Infants have been learning all about themselves this month. They have looked at different body parts, the stages of growing up, they have shared information on the things they like and don’t like and have learned that there are lots of different types of families.
Today they created little people, with thanks to this lovely art activity for one of the boys birthday! It was a wonderful art activity which tied in with their topic beautifully and the children loved making their own little person!
1st and 2nd have been learning about the different elements of art. We focussed on our use of colour and texture when creating our flower paintings. We used our art to brighten up the corridor outside our classroom
5th and 6th Class have a competition running this year to see who can be the first to read one million words. I never expected it to be reached after just 4 weeks in school! What an incredible achievement for Harriet Nielsen in 6th Class. We are all so proud of her! As you can see from the graph, there are many more not far behind her. It’s great to see so many avid readers in the senior end of the school. Harriet won a voucher for Bridge Street Books so she can read the next million. Well done, Harriet!
5th and 6th Class had their first film viewing this month. We watched Song of the Sea - a beautifully animated story about a little girl who has magical powers that help her save the selkies in an ancient mythical world. We all enjoyed it and it sparked lots of lively discussion about the topics it dealt with. Afterwards, we created our own ‘Selkie Coat’ - an item that allows us to have magical powers and become who we want to be. Here are some of our creations.
This month 1st and 2nd class are working hard learning all about the theme ‘Mé féin’ in Irish. With the weather being so fine lately, they took advantage and did some life size chalk drawings around the yard which they labelled the different body parts on. It is a great reminder to passers by to try and use Irish around the school as often as possible.
